


Started Out With A Kiss

by AlxSteele



Series: Through The Looking Glass [28]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: ALL THE FLUFF, Alternate Universe - This World Inverted (Shadowhunters TV), Developing Relationship, Fluff, Fun, M/M, Malec, Will they kiss?, Won't they kiss?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-26 20:36:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7589179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlxSteele/pseuds/AlxSteele
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in the alt. universe from This World Inverted: Magnus and Alec are officially back together and working through things since Alec finally found out the truth about Magnus. Lots of cuddling and fluffiness and ACTUALLY TALKING TO EACH OTHER, occur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Started Out With A Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> This was requested by a few people on Tumblr, people on Tumblr, I love you, you are awesome.
> 
> Title from Mr. Brightside by The Killers aka: one of my favorite songs ever/what's on repeat right now.

It was strange. After all the dread and worry. All the pain and confusion. After every thing he’d said and done, after months of agonizing over things. It was strange how fast everything seemed…normal.

Less than two weeks before, Magnus had ended things (or tried to anyway) because he thought it was what was best. Because he was terrified and had been since the day he met Alexander and realized this was someone he could fall for, more fully and completely than anyone else. Since the moment he realized there would never be anyone else, no one who’d come before or who could come after (there couldn’t be an after), would be anything like this.

Like Alexander Lightwood, smiling at him that first time. Alec’s lips against his. Nothing like the taste of Alec’s name on his tongue. Nothing like the feeling he got just being in the same room, let alone being pressed together.

Every little touch made his heart race. Every smile made him lose his breath. From the moment Magnus realized this (he couldn’t remember when exactly that moment was. like he’d known it all before he even knew what it felt like to kiss Alec), Magnus had been worried, dreading, terrified. What would happen when Alec found out? He’d hoped, but never dared to imagine, it could be easy.

It’d been painful and hard and it was something they’d have to work on for a long time but… Here they were. It was the middle of the night, neither one of them was ready to sleep. Here they were, laying on Magnus’ couch in the dark with nothing but the city lights outside the window to illuminate the room. Here they were, Magnus wearing Alec’s shirt, leaning back against Alec’s warmth.

Here they were, laughing quietly, whispering softly even though no one was around. Like they were terrified they’d break this fragile moment that enveloped them for this time in the middle of the night when they were exhausted and wide awake all at once.

“Be honest,” Alec whispered, voice low and deep as Magnus looked up at him. Alec laid on his back on the wide couch, Magnus curled on his side next to him, half laying on Alec, tracing patterns on his tight white shirt. “Have you ever used magic to clean the loft?”

Magnus looked up, a smile playing across his face. “Yes,” Magnus said, looking down like he was ashamed.

Alec shook his head, disappointed. “To get dressed?”

“Yes.”

Alec sighed, the action rocking Magnus. Alec’s eyes shined with amusement in the dark. “Wow. You’re lazier than I thought.”

Magnus laughed, swatting lazily at Alec’s side as he turned slightly, burying his head against Alec’s toned stomach. Magnus smirked when Alec’s breath caught, made sure to stay perfectly still.

Magnus shouldn’t have been surprised when Alec asked his next question. His voice was rougher than before, but held a clear teasing edge, and Magnus could perfectly picture the smirk that would be plastered across his face. “Hmm. Have you ever used magic for…sex?”

Magnus froze, barely daring to breathe. He could feel himself getting flushed as Alec ran a finger slowly up and down his back. Unfair, Magnus thought, holding back a shiver.

Finally, a little more breathless than he would’ve liked, Magnus said, “I am not answering that.”

Alec chuckled, pressing his hand flat on Magnus’ back and stopping the teasing. “So that’s a yes.”

“Shut it,” Magnus grumbled.

Alec laughed harder and Magnus sat up, moving away. “No! Wait, don’t go. I’m sorry.”

Magnus glared at Alec, who would’ve been a lot more convincing if he wasn’t still laughing so hard as he grabbed for Magnus’ hands.

Alec took a deep breath, face flushed from laughing. He shifted on his side, pulling Magnus back. “Please? I’m sorry,” he said, sticking his bottom lip out in a pout.

Magnus rolled his eyes but stretched out next to Alec again nevertheless.

Alec pressed a kiss to the top of his head, wrapping an arm around his waist. “What do you do with your magic then?”

Magnus sighed, letting his eyes fall closed. “Lots of different things. I do spell work and potions and the like for other downworlders. It’s good business. I used to do more in the downworld. I helped invent the portal. Back in the day, I could summon a mean demon. Then…I stopped using magic for a while.”

“Why?” Alec’s voice vibrated through his chest. Magnus could tell Alec’s eyes were closed too because he sounded closer to sleep suddenly.

Magnus smiled to himself. He didn’t know how the last two weeks could’ve happened. How did he ever think he could push Alexander away? He couldn’t breathe without him.

Magnus thought about the question for a few minutes, worried Alec might have fallen asleep while he did. “I don’t know… The demons were locked out of our world, there was less demand for warlocks and…I just stopped…everything for a while. Turned it all off. Started the psychic business because I didn’t know what else to do.”

Alec laughed softly behind him. “Ah, yes. Palm reading and whatnot.”

Magnus realized then, that even during their four months together, never in his whole, long life, had he felt so content. Alec knew. And here he was. Just wanting to know more. Just wanting to hold Magnus even as they swore they were taking things slowly.

“So why’d you start using it again?”

Magnus wrinkled his nose, sighing. “That…is a long story.”

Alec hummed softly before sitting up behind Magnus, forcing Magnus to sit up too. Alec rearranged them until they were leaning against the back of the couch, staring at each other. He blinked slowly, lazily grinning in the dark.

Magnus got lost watching his thick eyelashes as he blinked.

“So,” Alec prompted. “Tell me.”

Magnus sighed, closing his eyes as Alec took his hands, rubbing comforting circles on his palms. “Well, it includes an alternate universe and a few friends you may know.”

Magnus watched Alec’s face as he explained about the other Clary and everything that had happened. Watched his eyes get wider and wider. Stopped when he came to the end and it looked like Alec may pass out.

“Alexander?” he asked, softly. “Are you okay?”

“I—I…” Alec shook his head, dropping Magnus’ hands to scrub at his face. “When you said long story…I wasn’t expecting _that._ ”

Magnus nodded, staying quiet. He thought that maybe he should’ve waited to explain this particular story or done it slower maybe… But, no, he reminded himself. He’d promised to tell Alec whatever he asked.

Magnus’ heart thundered in his chest as he waited for Alec to say something.

Alec dropped his hands, his face was pale and chalky. “I may be on the verge of a panic attack,” he said before shaking his head roughly.

Magnus wasn’t sure what to do so he just grabbed Alec’s hands, waiting. “It’s… I mean… Alternate universes?” he let out a long, deep breath, gripping Magnus’ hands. He shook his head again, finally turning back to meet Magnus’ eyes.

“I mean, okay. I was fine with the demons and…everything else but really? Alternate universes?”

Magnus smiled crookedly. “It is a bit much.”

Alec scoffed, dropping his head back on the couch. “A bit?”

Alec’s eyes closed and Magnus watched him for a minute. The slow rise and fall of his chest. The way his dark lashes fell against his lighter skin. The smile that curved his lips when he realized Magnus was watching him.

“Would we have even met?” Alec whispered.

Magnus looked up from staring at his lips, meeting his now open eyes. “What?”

Alec sat up. “You and me. Had this other Clary not come, would we have even met?”

Magnus frowned, cocking his head to the side. He thought about it for a minute, how Clary had forced him to go to the party Alec planned, how he never would’ve even known about the party otherwise, might not have ever started using magic again, might not have ever run into Alec anywhere… Then he shrugged. “Of course,” he said, simply.

Alec raised an eyebrow, trying to hide a smile. “Of course? How is this an ‘of course’?”

Magnus pulled on Alec’s hand, tangling their fingers together. “Because, it has to be. I don’t want to think that if the other Clary had never come to me, none of this would’ve happened.”

He looked up, meeting Alec’s clear, hazel eyes. “I don’t know if I believe in fate and soulmates, I’m a little too old and cynical for that but… I don’t want to think that there could’ve been a time, a universe, where we didn’t meet.”

Alec stared at him silently, eyes looking back and forth between both of Magnus’. He looked down, smiling. “I wonder if we’re both there, in the other universe…together.”

***

“Why’d you always refuse to give me a reading?” Alec asked later, as they scoured the kitchen for food.

Magnus looked up from where he’d been bending over, looking in the fridge. Alec grinned at the way his hair was rumpled in the back, sticking up in the front, the light from the fridge lighting his face. Magnus scowled back.

He closed the fridge, moving next to Alec, who was leaning against the kitchen counter.

Magnus frowned, chewing his lip. “I don’t know… It’s just… It’s magic. I didn’t want to go into your mind like that, without you knowing.”

“How does it work?” Alec asked softly.

Magnus shrugged. “Most of it’s just reading the cards, which is easy, I don’t know how much power goes into it. I can’t read minds, Alexander. Mostly, it’s an honest business.”

Alec laughed, shaking his head. He bit his lip, thinking. Every time he’d asked before, for Magnus to do a reading for him, it was just a joke… Now though. “Will you do a reading for me?” he finally asked.

Magnus turned to him slowly. “It’s not real magic, you know? I’m just as likely to get everything wrong as anyone else. Most of what I do is advise people on what to do with their lives. I’m just…good at reading people.”

Alec shrugged, “So read me.” He added a wink to his flirty tone, enjoying the way it made Magnus get all flustered.

Magnus stared at him for a minute before nodding. Looking serious as he gave Alec a small smile. “Whatever you want”

Magnus moved to the dining room and Alec watched him clear the table and bring out a deck of tarot cards. He lit a few candles, before telling Alec to sit with his back to the windows.

Once Alec had sat, Magnus sat across from him. Magnus stared at him for a few minutes, considering, before handing Alec the tarot deck. “Shuffle and then divide it into three stacks.”

Alec carefully did as instructed. The room felt charged, filled with tension. He felt a little like he was being watched even though they were the only two in the dark room.

“Ready?” Magnus asked.

Alec nodded.

***

“I still think you were teasing me,” Alec determined, licking a drop of ice cream from his lips.

Magnus shook his head. “I would never!”

Truthfully, he never would’ve given Alec a fake reading. But, the fact that everything about it had pointed to it being about the two of them (and something shocking that would come up in the near future for Alec which worried Magnus) did make it seem rigged.

Alec laughed next to him, stealing another bite of ice cream. Magnus pulled the carton away. “No, you’re mean to me. You don’t deserve my ice cream,” Magnus pouted.

Alec leaned back, snorting. “You mean the ice cream you stole?”

“You don’t know that I stole this, just because I snapped my fingers and it appeared… Maybe it was already in my freezer,” Magnus said defensively.

He slowly raised his spoon to his lips, eyes locked with Alec’s as he licked it.

Alec’s eyes narrowed in a glare. He leaned in slowly and Magnus forgot how to swallow for a second.

“I was in your freezer earlier, there was no ice cream,” Alec whispered.

Magnus rolled his eyes, pulling back. It was really unfair how Alec could make anything sound sexy.

Alec laughed, reaching for the ice cream again. Mangus pulled back again.

“I’m sorry,” Alec mumbled, pouting with his bottom lip pushed out, eyes impossibly wide.

Magnus tried to ignore it but it was impossible when Alec pulled his puppy dog eyes trick. “Fine,” Magnus huffed, handing over the ice cream.

“Do you think I have a mustache in that other universe?”

Magnus nearly choked on his ice cream at Alec’s sudden question.

He started coughing and laughing at the same time, imaging Alec with a handlebar mustache.

Sitting on the floor in the dark, it wasn’t easy to make out Alec’s expression of fake hurt. “Rude. You don’t think I’d look good with a mustache?”

Once Magnus could properly breathe again, he shook his head. Leaning in, he ran his hand along Alec’s smooth jaw, Alec leaned into the touch. “No, not a mustache. Maybe a beard, though?” he suggested.

Alec leaned in closer, eyes bright in the dark as they met Magnus’. “Oh yeah? Should I try growing one out?”

They’re breathes mixed and Magnus breathed deeply. “Maybe.”

Alec smiled, not his all out grin or normal smirk, just a small, soft smile. It was one only ever aimed at Magnus, one Magnus had thought, just a week ago, would never be aimed at him again.

His stomach ached with the urge to kiss Alec. With want. But he wouldn’t even let himself glance at Alec’s lips, moving back slowly so they weren’t tempted. If Alec wanted to take it slowly, he was going to go as slow as humanly possible.

Alec was still smiling that smile at him once they’d finished off the ice cream, debating whether their alternate versions would be part of a traveling circus and what their acts would be.

“Ugh. I ate too much. Why’d you make me eat all the ice cream, Alexander?” Magnus complained, leaning his head on Alec’s shoulder as Alec laughed at his pain.

“You’re a four-hundred-year-old warlock and you can’t handle your ice cream?”

“You’re mean,” Magnus pouted. “Are you going to be constantly throwing my age in my face, Alexander?”

Alec just laughed against the top of his head.

It was approaching four in the morning and Magnus had to be up early for work but he was too comfortable to go to bed, to let the night end. His eyes got heavy, so he closed them. He was almost asleep against Alec when Alec’s low voice woke him up once more.

“Hey, Magnus?”

“Hmm?”

“What did you mean earlier, when you said you stopped…everything, cut yourself off from it all. What’s everything?”

Magnus turned his head to bury his nose against Alec’s neck. He didn’t know what to say but knew he had to say _something_.

Magnus was quite for a few minutes, thinking before speaking quietly, “I meant…magic and everything else. I stopped using magic and I stopped…feeling,” he explained.

“After a while, being alive so long, emotions get dimmed, easier to avoid. I closed myself off to it all, no pain, no love. No…anything really.”

Alec was quiet for a few minutes so Magnus rambled on a bit until he cut him off. “Why?”

Magnus sat up then, combing his hair out of his face with his hands. “Why did I stop feeling things? Because, at four hundred years, you get numb. Because…I was tired of it.” Magnus couldn’t meet Alec’s gaze but could feel him watching him.

He took a deep, steadying breath. “No one’s ever exactly picked me, Alexander, over anything. I have my friends whom I love but… Nothing else. Most the time I was okay with that but…after a while, it gets tiring.”

Alec reached out for Magnus’ hand.

“I closed myself off to feeling…anything for so long. And then…” Magnus finally looked up, meeting Alec’s gaze. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

***

Alec was honestly befuddled. He couldn’t wrap his mind around what Magnus was saying. Was sure he had to be wrong.

He reached out for Magnus, carefully urging him to meet Alec’s gaze. Magnus’ eyes were wide and vulnerable and Alec saw the truth written all throughout them.

“Stupid,” Alec muttered, moving one hand through Magnus’ hair to the back of his head, the other to his jaw.

“What?” Magnus breathed, closing his eyes as Alec shifted closer.

They were on the floor, leaning against the couch, the angle was odd as Alec shifted. He turned towards Magnus, moving to his knees. Magnus followed. Once they were both on their knees, Alec slowly leaned closer again. His hand stroking Magnus’ cheek while Magnus’ eyes remained closed.

Their breaths hitched at the same moment, Alec would’ve laughed but there was nothing funny right then. Their chests were touching as they breathed together.

Magnus’ hands rested at his sides like he wasn’t sure he was allowed to touch Alec yet, anymore. Alec tugged gently on Magnus’ hair until his eyes fluttered open once more.

Finally, Alec answered him. “Anyone who wouldn’t chose you…over everything.”

Magnus’ eyes went wide, wider than Alec had ever seen before.

Alec leaned forward, he meant to do it slowly but suddenly all the space between them was gone. Alec’s eyes remained opened just long enough to see Magnus’ close again as he sighed into the kiss. And this…this was everything Alec had ever wanted, ever hoped to feel. This was Magnus, warm and alive and perfect despite everything. This was them falling back together, finally, perfectly, undoubtedly.

This was a first kiss, soft and tentative; and a millionth, familiar and fast and messy.

This was the kiss of two people desperately in love that had almost forgotten what it felt like, tasted like, to surrender their selves to each other.

Alec didn’t know who pulled back first, knew only that he didn’t want too and wouldn’t have if it weren’t for the fact that every ounce of breath had left his body the second his lips touched Magnus’.

Alec leaned their foreheads together, eyes still closed, breathing ragged and heartbeat erratic. It felt like they hadn’t kissed in months, years, ever. And he knew what he wanted it to mean, what he wasn’t ready to say yet: I choose you. Now. Yesterday. Tomorrow. Forever.

Magnus leaned in, brushing their lips together once more, softly, carefully, like Alec might pull back. He didn’t.

***

“I want this,” Alec’s voice came, a soft whisper, long after Magnus had thought he’d fallen asleep. It was nearly five a.m. They’d been up all night. Magnus was exhausted yet, somehow, it felt like only moments had passed since Alec came over after work and they had dinner.

Magnus shifted from his spot curled against Alec on the couch, to look up at him. “What?” he whispered, eyes barely staying open.

Alec licked his lips, looking up at the ceiling. “You said, whatever I want. And…I want this.”

Magnus tried to hide the way his heart rate doubled but, judging by the little, surprised sound he let out, it didn’t work.

Magnus swallowed, once, twice, three times before he could talk. “Good.”

“Good?” Alec asked and if Magnus wasn’t mistaken that was worry in his voice.

Magnus merely nodded against his side. “I want it too.”

Even in the dark room (that was getting progressively lighter as the sun rose) Magnus could see Alec’s wide grin.

“Good.”

**Author's Note:**

> THREE. MORE. PARTS. Only three! Gah, I never imagined I would write so much for this but I finished writing it while I was on my writing retreat and I'm sad it's over? So...I once mentioned a secret project and the thing is, I haven't fully decided on it yet? And I don't want to get anyone's hopes up about it...so I'm conflicted. Basically, I'm considering a "missing scenes" series for Though The Looking Glass when this main series (which should've been a chaptered fic! I know! But I never planned on writing so much!) is over but I'm not sure how often I would post and I would need more prompts soooo...tell me your thoughts on whether you want this or not.
> 
> Also, you are all the loveliest of biscuits, thank you so much for continuing to read and comment and everything, you kill me with your kindness. =) Next update Thursday!
> 
> Hit me up on [Tumblr](http://imawriteriwrite.tumblr.com/)
> 
> <3<3<3


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